European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 11, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse The Teflon mobs reports of the death of the mafia Are greatly exaggerated by Rick Hampson the associated press in the 10 years since president Reagan declared War on the mob a a this dark evil enemy within Quot a the government has imprisoned organized crime chieftains of every kind by the hundreds. The lineup runs the Gamut from Quot Teflon Don Quot John Gotti to Anthony Quot fat Tony Quot Salerno to Nicodema Quot Little Nicky Quot Scarfo from Creaky septuagenarian Louis Gatto of Farr Lawn n.j., to Quot crazy Phil Quot Leonetti a handsome Young killer from South Philadelphia. The government has bugged mob kitchens and bedrooms clubs and cars. It has taken Over Union Halls nightclubs and restaurants. It has forced the first fair National teamsters Union elections and Cut off the mafia s Cash skim from Las vegas. It has done just about everything in fact except reduce organized crime. Across the Urban Northeast and Midwest the foot soldiers a bookies loan Sharks truck hijackers and Auto thieves some with the mafia some not a Haven to skipped a beat says criminologist Howard Abadinsky. Quot you wonder if they Ever in interviews dozens of Law enforcers and organized crime experts agreed that eliminating the racketeers has not eliminated the rackets. Not even in new York where most top mob leaders Are in jail on trial or both. In addition to last week s conviction of Gotti Here Are some examples a in 1984, investigators secretly recorded luchese family Boss Quot Tony ducks Quot Corallo acknowledging the mob s monopoly of garbage carting on Long Island. Today Corallo is serving an unrelated 100-year prison term but the mob still collects Long islands garbage a and still charges 50 percent Over the estimated Market Price. A in 1985, 13 members of the Colombo family including its entire Hierarchy were convicted in the first Case to target an entire crime family. Investigators created fictional lives for two undercover agents and set up Dummy households and businesses. It All took five years and Cost the Fri alone $4.8 million in salaries and court costs. Today the colombos remain sufficiently viable to wage a major intramural War that has killed a half dozen mobsters. A in 1986, the Quot pizza connection Quot trial resulted in the conviction of 17 men who imported $1.6 billion in heroin. . Attorney Rudolph Giuliani said the trial the longest in Federal history would Quot break the control of the mafia Over International drug today heroin is being smuggled into the country by asians mexicans West africans and Many others. The drug enforcement administration is discovering record shipments and drug treatment centers say heroin use is increasing. In All three cases mobsters were put away but organized crime went on. Even the mafia troubled As it is by prosecution old age and a shortage of capable Young recruits shows no sign of disappearing. The Best estimate of its National membership 1,700, is the same As eight years ago. And it is still Active in about two dozen cities the same As 20 years ago. Quot this notion that the mob is dying is a fantasy Quot says Fred Martens a former new Jersey state investigator who now directs the Pennsylvania crime commission. A we jump to conclusions because we look at the body count Quot he says referring to mob convictions Quot the body count did t end the Vietnam War and it won t end organized crime Quot Law enforcers have been predicting the end of the mafia for almost As Long As they be known about it. In 1963. Alter Joe Valachi became the first member to testify publicly attorney general Robert Kennedy said the mob had been struck a a blow from which it will never in the Early 1980s, however Reagan ordered Quot a sustained Long term War Quot designed Quot to break the Power of the mob Quot and this time there was reason for optimism. More agents were hired More electronic surveillance approved More witnesses placed in a special Protection program. The feds most potent new weapon has been the racketeer influenced and corrupt organizations or Rico Law passed in 1970 but not used consistently until 10 years later. Instead of a Hunt and Peck attack on the mob a a Soldier Here a Boss there a Rico allows a prosecutors to put whole groups of mobsters away for Long sentences and sei2e their ill gotten assets. Rico also affords civil remedies designed to free Quot captive organizations Quot such As labor unions and businesses that impose a mob tax on Consumers. In new York it adds about 10 percent to the Price of a paint Job 3 percent to the wholesale Cost of a garment and 1 cent to the Cost of a hot dog at the Bronx zoo. Meanwhile the mafia has other problems. The streets of the City Are no longer the Fertile recruiting grounds for new members they once were As the population shifts to the suburbs. Mob life looks less appealing from the perspective of quiet tree lined streets. This has come to the attention of the nations most notorious mobster John Gotti Boss of new Yorkus Gambino crime family on Fri tapes played this year at his racketeering trial Gotti groused that recruitment Quot is Gettin tougher not easier. We got the Only few pockets of Good kids he meant of course bad kids. The mob s plight seems so dire in fact that the myth of its invincibility has been replaced by the myth of its demise. John Gotti is the mobs most recent Legal casualty. E got the Only few pockets of Good kids convicted mobster John Gotti on recruiting problems Law enforcers and journalists have trumpeted each conviction a sometimes each indictment a As a lasting blow against the mob and its rackets. When the Bosses who sat on the new York mob s ruling Quot commission Quot were convicted in 1986, Giuliani called it Quot the mafias worst several years later attorney general Dick Thornburgh called the bugging of a mafia induction ceremony Quot the final Ignominy Quot and said the government was ready Quot to put out a final contract on the but Tho millennium has not arrived and the mob s demise remains on the horizon. In Philadelphia despite the incarceration of virtually every big mafioso Quot we re seeing the reorganizing of the family businesses Quot says Martens of the state crime commission. Quot and Pittsburgh has the smoothest run family you la in Chicago the outfit has survived a wave of convictions. Quot we May have dented it in the 80s, but it s in the repair shop Quot says Robert Fuesel of the Chicago crime commission. Meanwhile the mob tax has not been reduced much less repealed the liberation of the mob s Quot captive institutions Quot via Rico civil suits is lagging on several key fronts a teamsters local 560 in Northern new Jersey where a trustee was appointed in 1986 to end what a Federal judge called a an orgy of criminal activity Quot including the murder of two dissident members. Members have elected mob linked candidates in two federally supervised elections. When the judge ousted Michael Sciarra imprisoned gangster Tony Provenzano s designated successor from the local presidency members elected his brother a who then appointed Sciarra business agent. A new Yorkus Fulton fish Market the nation s largest seafood Market where a Federal administrator was appointed in 1988 to clean up a Gangland Bazaar that has been controlled by the mob since Herbert Hoover was in the White House with his term up for renewal in May the Federal administrator admits that a mob enforced monopoly still unloads every crate of fish thus increasing seafood prices across the Region and preserving mob control of the Market. This Hierarchy of the Gambino crime family was presented during the Gotti trial in new York. A roofers local 30 in Philadelphia which a Federal judge began supervising in 1988 following the racketeering convictions of 13 mob linked officers. The Leader of a Reform faction has lost two elections since the convictions and complains that the hiring Hall is starving Cut his followers. Why won t the mob die because the mafia is More than an organization. It s a process that has endured for centuries by exploiting Man s vices and weaknesses by emphasizing criminal cooperation rather than Competition and by bending rather than breaking when challenged by the Law. As Long As people want to Gamble without paying taxes borrow Money on poor credit or take illegal drugs there will be bookies to be Quot protected Quot Loans to be collected narcotics to be smuggled a if not by the mafia then someone else. There a always a thief looking for a Fence an official looking for a payoff. Reagan described organized crime As a social parasite but the mafia relies no More on victims than co conspirators the labor Leader who needs muscle to keep dissidents in line the businessman eager to buy stolen goods at a discount. The incarceration of one mobster or 1,000 changes none of this. The mafia is a relatively flexible Loose knit federation in which various criminal entrepreneurs a some mafiosi some not a run their own rackets and pass up some proceeds. Continued on Page 16 Anthony Quot fat Tony Salerno leaves a new Jersey courtroom following his 1989 racketeering conviction. More than 1,000 mafiosi have been locked up in 10 years. Page 14 the stars and stripes saturday april 11, 1992 the stars and stripes Page 15
